Time travel along a half-drowned beach - my visit to the Stop 37 on the Indiana/Michigan border
Back in 2016, I went on a trip to state of Indiana's northern border with the state of Michigan. For historic reasons, several Indiana counties closest to Chicago are in the Central time zone, while the rest of the state (and Michigan) are all in Eastern time zone. I wanted to see several towns northeast of the Michigan City, and there is always something neat about getting to walk from one time zone to another. It's like a bit of time travel.
There was no public transit going there directly, so I had to take the South Shore Line to Michigan City, take the Michigan City Transit bus as far west as it would take me
And walk the rest of the way.
I meant to write about it at the time. I even have the draft of the partially completed post saved as text file... But for some reason, I never did. It was an interesting walk at the several towns that started out as basically collections of dachas for Chicagoans who could afford such thing, and while dachniki are still a bit part of their population, from what I understand, there are people that live there full-time as well. I knew going in that there were plenty of beaches along the the way. The entrances to the beaches are known as "stops" (to the best of my knowledge, a relic of a bus route that used to transport vacationers from the South Shore Line's 11th Street station in Michigan City to their dachas) and they looked pretty nifty in real life, with benches, nice wooden stairs and, in some cases, faucets one could use to wash their feet.
What I didn't realize when I planned that trip was that one of those stops, Stop 37, led to a beach that technically span two states and two time zones.
If walking between time zones is fun, then swimming between time zones seemed doubly so... But I didn't pack the swim trunks.
So I could only walk around from Central time zone
To Eastern time zone
Which wasn't quite the same thing.
Ever since, I nursed a dream of coming back to that beach with swim trunks and actually swimming between the states. But lack of time and/or money kept holding me back. And it didn't help that Michigan City Transit buses didn't run on Sundays, which limited my options even further.
COVID-19 pandemic and the measures to reduce the spread hit all of the transit systems hard. In order to encourage riders, South Shore Line launched a promotion where all of the westbound trips were free. Which meant that a round trip cost half as much as it normally would - which, when a trip to Michigan City is $10.25 each way, isn't a trivial discount. Originally, the promotion was supposed to last until the end of summer. Then, it was extended to the end of September. Then the end of October. And the thought kept nagging at me - I should take advantage of it.
I kept on trying to figure out a way to do it during the summer - but either I had scheduling conflicts (mostly work-related) or the weather wasn't right. But now, the end of September was drawing near, and forecasts suggested that Friday-Sunday could well be the last warm couple of days of the year. So, to make a long story short, I decided to try it on Friday, September 25.
My original plan was to catch the train that left downtown Chicago at 12:35 PM and arrived at Michigan City at 2:11 PM. I would have to wait until 2:53 PM to catch the bus, but it would still give me plenty of time to get to the beach, swim and catch the 8:03 PM train back (because, even before the pandemic, there were no westbound trains running between 4:42 PM and 8:03 PM on weekdays, and catching the former was simply not realistic). But I wound up leaving my apartment later than I should have, ran to the Millenium Station, bought the ticket, ran to the platform... Only to watch the train pull away literally a second later.
I could literally see the conductor sitting me in the back, offering a half-apologetic, half "what did you think was going to happen" shrug.
The next train didn't leave Chicago until 2:25 PM. It would arrive in Michigan City a little after 4:00 PM, and I wouldn't be able to catch the bus until 4:58 PM. Which would leave me with an awfully tight time table. Unlike last time, I wouldn't be snaking through Long Beach - I would simply head straight to the beach. I figured I would be able to reach it by about 6:00 PM, swim a little bit, and then just as briskly head back. Catching the bus back wouldn't be an option at this point (because there were just no buses scheduled after the one I would take), but I knew that if I walked along the lake shore back to Michigan City, I should be able to make it at around 7:50 PM, give or take a few minutes.
It was an awfully huge gamble. If I was slower than I expected, if there were any complications... That was literally the last South Shore Line train back to Chicago. Normally, there was a Chicago-bound Amtrak train stopping in Michigan City around 9:00 PM (and I have enough Amtrak reward points that the ticket would cost nothing), but given the pandemic messing with the schedules, I wasn't sure it would even be there. But I already bought the South Shore Line ticket, and, like I said, that might have been my last chance to do it that year.
Still, I made contingency plans. I decided that, if it's 6:00 PM and I didn't reach Stop 37, I would turn around and head back, maybe take a quick dip in one of the other beaches.
At first, the plan worked impeccably. I got off at Michigan City, took some obligatory street running photos
Looked sadly at the Canterbury Theater, whose 2020 season was kiboshed by the pandemic
And went to Michigan City Public Library, one of the few spots in Michigan City where all four Michigan City Transit routes stop, to wait for the bus. (I did browse some local newspapers and magazines, and used the restroom, while I was there)
(This is Route 3 bus - which I usually take to get to Mt. Baldy - but since I didn't get a good shot of a Route 1 bus, this will have to do as a visual representation)
While there were some initial delays, I didn't lose too much time. Unlike the last time, I walked briskly, trying not to stop for anything - but I couldn't resist taking pictures of a county coroner campaign sign with a very appropriate color scheme.
A house with a Chicago flag proudly waving
And some nice houses by the lake, in the town of Long Beach (I'm not 100% sure which ones of them are dachas, but either way, they look neat)
And one of the beaches
Between the evening sun and the fall, there were some beautiful colors
I call this one "the kind of shot hettie_lz uses for her birthday posts" and, honestly, this was pure luck - by this point, I wasn't even pausing to take pictures. I just kept walking
At 6:02 PM CST/7:02 EST, I made it to the Indiana/Michigan border (the lake shore is curving upwards, so the border is the road on the right)
I saw that somebody built a house directly left of Stop 37 since the last time I was there. And, as I noticed the conspicuous lack of noises coming from the beach, and the fact that the family which I very carefully kept out of all of my shots clearly weren't coming from that stop, but from one of the stops further northeast, I started to suspect something was amiss. And, sure enough..
Peaking past the barriers, the beach didn't look as bad as the Lake View Beach in Beverly did in January, but trying to get past the barrier, especially with a new house in full view, seemed like asking for trouble
Because I had no idea when I would have a chance to stand on the border between two time zones again, I decided to take this shot. A Strannik caught time-traveling (My shadow is pointing at the EST side, and the CST side is on my left)
With the clock ticking and the beach firmly closed, I headed back. The sun was setting, lighting sky ablaze with bright orange hues
And I started to think that those photos alone may have been worth the trip
I was so tempted to stop by one of those beaches, swim in the reflections of the setting sun - but I couldn't take a chance that it might delay me enough to cause me to miss the train.
At one point, I even went down to the one of beaches - only to find myself in the middle of a gathering of at least two families, who clearly didn't expect a somebody they didn't know to suddenly show up, but were too polite to say anything unwelcoming. I quickly assured them that I was only there for the sunset, too the shots while very carefully not getting any of the kids in the frame and departed.
In another point, I tried to get a shot of a reddening sun while standing in a driveway - only to realize that a middle-aged man who I assumed was the owner of the house was staring it me. So, of course, I asked if it would be possible for me to come a little closer to his house so I could get a better shot of the sun. The man seemed bemused and said that, sure, it was okay. He seemed just as bemused when I thanked him and quickly left.
Oh, and as I kept walking through Long Grove, I spotted a deer walking casually on the bluff where the homes rested. My mom's LJ has tons of posts with photos of deer she's seem while biking or walking through the Deer Grove Forest Preserve, but this was the first time I've seen a deer within meters of me, in a residential area, just casually grazing.
Afraid to spook it, I used the zoom lens. This is the best shot I managed to get.
I kept walking, watching as the sun sank beneath the horizon
At that point, it was almost 7:00 PM. The stop numbers were pretty good navigational aids, and made it easier to keep going. I walked past the west edge of Long Beach and into the Michigan City (I could tell because they use different-colored street signs). Around me, people were pulling into their driveways, settling in for the evening. Loud chatter and music came from many balconies and verandas. I kept walking.
When I saw the Beachwalk Resort, a vacation rental spot built around the pond that was once a limestone quarry I felt almost relieved. I was already most of the way there.
As an aside, even though it was dark, I saw a group of about 10 teenage girls heading from the resort down to the beach.
I crossed Trail Creek by 7:45 PM. I made it down to 11th Street station at 7:59 PM, with literally only four minutes to spare.
And while maybe I should be worried about just how close I ended up cutting it... More than anything, I felt proud. The recent move made me seriously second-guess my physical capabilities, made me wonder if I could walk as fast as I used to, and as long as I used to. But in the end, I was able to make it to Station 37 and back to Michigan City in about the time I expected. I walked for almost three hours with barely any rest and I didn't feel tired. I bit sweaty from all the exertion, but not tired. At least not I had a chance to sit and my legs really started to feel sore. I was able to maintain a decent pace all the way through.
And, while I couldn't walk the beach that spans two time zones, I got some great photos in the process.
Like I said, I'm proud of myself.
There was no public transit going there directly, so I had to take the South Shore Line to Michigan City, take the Michigan City Transit bus as far west as it would take me
And walk the rest of the way.
I meant to write about it at the time. I even have the draft of the partially completed post saved as text file... But for some reason, I never did. It was an interesting walk at the several towns that started out as basically collections of dachas for Chicagoans who could afford such thing, and while dachniki are still a bit part of their population, from what I understand, there are people that live there full-time as well. I knew going in that there were plenty of beaches along the the way. The entrances to the beaches are known as "stops" (to the best of my knowledge, a relic of a bus route that used to transport vacationers from the South Shore Line's 11th Street station in Michigan City to their dachas) and they looked pretty nifty in real life, with benches, nice wooden stairs and, in some cases, faucets one could use to wash their feet.
What I didn't realize when I planned that trip was that one of those stops, Stop 37, led to a beach that technically span two states and two time zones.
If walking between time zones is fun, then swimming between time zones seemed doubly so... But I didn't pack the swim trunks.
So I could only walk around from Central time zone
To Eastern time zone
Which wasn't quite the same thing.
Ever since, I nursed a dream of coming back to that beach with swim trunks and actually swimming between the states. But lack of time and/or money kept holding me back. And it didn't help that Michigan City Transit buses didn't run on Sundays, which limited my options even further.
COVID-19 pandemic and the measures to reduce the spread hit all of the transit systems hard. In order to encourage riders, South Shore Line launched a promotion where all of the westbound trips were free. Which meant that a round trip cost half as much as it normally would - which, when a trip to Michigan City is $10.25 each way, isn't a trivial discount. Originally, the promotion was supposed to last until the end of summer. Then, it was extended to the end of September. Then the end of October. And the thought kept nagging at me - I should take advantage of it.
I kept on trying to figure out a way to do it during the summer - but either I had scheduling conflicts (mostly work-related) or the weather wasn't right. But now, the end of September was drawing near, and forecasts suggested that Friday-Sunday could well be the last warm couple of days of the year. So, to make a long story short, I decided to try it on Friday, September 25.
My original plan was to catch the train that left downtown Chicago at 12:35 PM and arrived at Michigan City at 2:11 PM. I would have to wait until 2:53 PM to catch the bus, but it would still give me plenty of time to get to the beach, swim and catch the 8:03 PM train back (because, even before the pandemic, there were no westbound trains running between 4:42 PM and 8:03 PM on weekdays, and catching the former was simply not realistic). But I wound up leaving my apartment later than I should have, ran to the Millenium Station, bought the ticket, ran to the platform... Only to watch the train pull away literally a second later.
I could literally see the conductor sitting me in the back, offering a half-apologetic, half "what did you think was going to happen" shrug.
The next train didn't leave Chicago until 2:25 PM. It would arrive in Michigan City a little after 4:00 PM, and I wouldn't be able to catch the bus until 4:58 PM. Which would leave me with an awfully tight time table. Unlike last time, I wouldn't be snaking through Long Beach - I would simply head straight to the beach. I figured I would be able to reach it by about 6:00 PM, swim a little bit, and then just as briskly head back. Catching the bus back wouldn't be an option at this point (because there were just no buses scheduled after the one I would take), but I knew that if I walked along the lake shore back to Michigan City, I should be able to make it at around 7:50 PM, give or take a few minutes.
It was an awfully huge gamble. If I was slower than I expected, if there were any complications... That was literally the last South Shore Line train back to Chicago. Normally, there was a Chicago-bound Amtrak train stopping in Michigan City around 9:00 PM (and I have enough Amtrak reward points that the ticket would cost nothing), but given the pandemic messing with the schedules, I wasn't sure it would even be there. But I already bought the South Shore Line ticket, and, like I said, that might have been my last chance to do it that year.
Still, I made contingency plans. I decided that, if it's 6:00 PM and I didn't reach Stop 37, I would turn around and head back, maybe take a quick dip in one of the other beaches.
At first, the plan worked impeccably. I got off at Michigan City, took some obligatory street running photos
Looked sadly at the Canterbury Theater, whose 2020 season was kiboshed by the pandemic
And went to Michigan City Public Library, one of the few spots in Michigan City where all four Michigan City Transit routes stop, to wait for the bus. (I did browse some local newspapers and magazines, and used the restroom, while I was there)
(This is Route 3 bus - which I usually take to get to Mt. Baldy - but since I didn't get a good shot of a Route 1 bus, this will have to do as a visual representation)
While there were some initial delays, I didn't lose too much time. Unlike the last time, I walked briskly, trying not to stop for anything - but I couldn't resist taking pictures of a county coroner campaign sign with a very appropriate color scheme.
A house with a Chicago flag proudly waving
And some nice houses by the lake, in the town of Long Beach (I'm not 100% sure which ones of them are dachas, but either way, they look neat)
And one of the beaches
Between the evening sun and the fall, there were some beautiful colors
I call this one "the kind of shot hettie_lz uses for her birthday posts" and, honestly, this was pure luck - by this point, I wasn't even pausing to take pictures. I just kept walking
At 6:02 PM CST/7:02 EST, I made it to the Indiana/Michigan border (the lake shore is curving upwards, so the border is the road on the right)
I saw that somebody built a house directly left of Stop 37 since the last time I was there. And, as I noticed the conspicuous lack of noises coming from the beach, and the fact that the family which I very carefully kept out of all of my shots clearly weren't coming from that stop, but from one of the stops further northeast, I started to suspect something was amiss. And, sure enough..
Peaking past the barriers, the beach didn't look as bad as the Lake View Beach in Beverly did in January, but trying to get past the barrier, especially with a new house in full view, seemed like asking for trouble
Because I had no idea when I would have a chance to stand on the border between two time zones again, I decided to take this shot. A Strannik caught time-traveling (My shadow is pointing at the EST side, and the CST side is on my left)
With the clock ticking and the beach firmly closed, I headed back. The sun was setting, lighting sky ablaze with bright orange hues
And I started to think that those photos alone may have been worth the trip
I was so tempted to stop by one of those beaches, swim in the reflections of the setting sun - but I couldn't take a chance that it might delay me enough to cause me to miss the train.
At one point, I even went down to the one of beaches - only to find myself in the middle of a gathering of at least two families, who clearly didn't expect a somebody they didn't know to suddenly show up, but were too polite to say anything unwelcoming. I quickly assured them that I was only there for the sunset, too the shots while very carefully not getting any of the kids in the frame and departed.
In another point, I tried to get a shot of a reddening sun while standing in a driveway - only to realize that a middle-aged man who I assumed was the owner of the house was staring it me. So, of course, I asked if it would be possible for me to come a little closer to his house so I could get a better shot of the sun. The man seemed bemused and said that, sure, it was okay. He seemed just as bemused when I thanked him and quickly left.
Oh, and as I kept walking through Long Grove, I spotted a deer walking casually on the bluff where the homes rested. My mom's LJ has tons of posts with photos of deer she's seem while biking or walking through the Deer Grove Forest Preserve, but this was the first time I've seen a deer within meters of me, in a residential area, just casually grazing.
Afraid to spook it, I used the zoom lens. This is the best shot I managed to get.
I kept walking, watching as the sun sank beneath the horizon
At that point, it was almost 7:00 PM. The stop numbers were pretty good navigational aids, and made it easier to keep going. I walked past the west edge of Long Beach and into the Michigan City (I could tell because they use different-colored street signs). Around me, people were pulling into their driveways, settling in for the evening. Loud chatter and music came from many balconies and verandas. I kept walking.
When I saw the Beachwalk Resort, a vacation rental spot built around the pond that was once a limestone quarry I felt almost relieved. I was already most of the way there.
As an aside, even though it was dark, I saw a group of about 10 teenage girls heading from the resort down to the beach.
I crossed Trail Creek by 7:45 PM. I made it down to 11th Street station at 7:59 PM, with literally only four minutes to spare.
And while maybe I should be worried about just how close I ended up cutting it... More than anything, I felt proud. The recent move made me seriously second-guess my physical capabilities, made me wonder if I could walk as fast as I used to, and as long as I used to. But in the end, I was able to make it to Station 37 and back to Michigan City in about the time I expected. I walked for almost three hours with barely any rest and I didn't feel tired. I bit sweaty from all the exertion, but not tired. At least not I had a chance to sit and my legs really started to feel sore. I was able to maintain a decent pace all the way through.
And, while I couldn't walk the beach that spans two time zones, I got some great photos in the process.
Like I said, I'm proud of myself.